Overfishing what everyone needs to know

OVERFISHING WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW This page intentionally left blank OVERFISHING WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW RAY HILBORN, WITH ULRIKE HILBORN 1 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2012 by Ray and Ulrike Hilborn Published by Oxford University Press, Inc 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hilborn, Ray, 1947– Overfishing : what everyone needs to know / Ray Hilborn with Ulrike Hilborn p cm Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-0-19-979813-1 (hardcover) — ISBN 978-0-19-979814-8 (pbk.) Overfishing Sustainable fisheries Fisheries—Environmental aspects I Hilborn, Ulrike II Title SH329.O94H55 2012 338.3'727—dc23 2011031308 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper To Carl Walters, whose curiosity and creativity have provided constant inspiration This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS PR E FACE x iii Overfishing What is overfishing? What is a sustainable harvest? Can fisheries be sustainably harvested? Is overfishing a new problem? Why does sustainable fishing reduce the number of fish in the ocean? What is a collapsed fishery? What happened to the Canadian cod? Why did the Canadian cod collapse? Are all cod fisheries collapsed? Historical Overfishing 10 12 Is overfishing a new problem? 12 Can whales be sustainably harvested? 15 How we estimate the abundance of animals in the ocean? 17 Can scientists estimate the sustainable yield? 18 Is there any value in Japanese “research whaling”? 19 Is depleting one population and moving on to the next a common problem? 20 viii Contents Recovery of Fisheries 21 Can fish stocks recover from overfishing? 21 How important is habitat to fish populations? 24 What about the enormous numbers seen by John Smith? 25 What is the difference between recruitment overfishing and growth overfishing? 25 Can recreational and commercial fisheries co-exist? 26 Modern Industrial Fisheries Management 28 What is an example of a well-managed fishery? 28 What is different about the pollock fishery that makes it such a good example of sustainable management? 30 Why does the allowable catch change so much from year to year? 30 What is a stock assessment? 31 What is an observer program? 32 Why are there not more observer programs in world fisheries? 32 What is a certified fishery? 33 Why some NGOs believe the Eastern Bering Sea pollock fishery is not well managed? 35 Economic Overfishing 37 Is overfishing only a biological problem? 37 What are individual fishermen’s quotas, the IFQs? 38 What are the benefits of IFQs? 39 What are the negative impacts of IFQs? 40 What is economic overfishing? 41 How economically efficient are world fisheries in general? 42 How we prevent economic overfishing? 42 Contents ix Are there ways to prevent the tragedy of the commons without privatizing fisheries? 43 What are community development quotas? 43 How does sector allocation work? 44 What other mechanisms have been used to allocate fish? 45 Climate and Fisheries 47 How does climate affect fish populations? 47 Are many fisheries affected by climate? 51 Are there other fisheries where we can look at hundreds of years of history before fishing started? 51 How can we tell if a fishery is declining because of climate or fishing pressure? 52 What are going to be the impacts on fisheries from a warming ocean? 53 What will be the impacts of ocean acidification? 54 Mixed Fisheries 55 Do fisheries catch one species or more? 55 What determines how hard a fish species can be harvested? 58 How we balance harvesting high- and low-productivity species in mixed fisheries? 59 What is “underfishing”? 59 Is it better to give up potential yield of productive species to keep unproductive species at high abundance? 60 How can we manage fisheries to reduce the mixed nature of the fishery? 60 High Seas Fisheries What is the status of bluefin tuna that were proposed for CITES listing? 62 62 136 Further Reading Castilla, J C., and O Defeo “Latin American Benthic Shellfisheries: Emphasis on Co-management and Experimental Practices.” Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 11 (2001): 1–30 Castilla, J C., P Manriquez, J Alvarado, A Rosson, C Pino, C Espoz, R Soto, D Oliva, and O Defeo “Artisanal ‘Caletas’ as Units of Production and Comanagers of Benthic Invertebrates in Chile.” Proceedings of the North Pacific Symposium on Invertebrate Stock Assessment and Management Canadian Special Publication of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 125 (1998): 407–13 Gelcich, S., T P Hughes, P Olsson, C Folke, O Defeo, M Fernandez, S Foale, L H Gunderson, C Rodriguez-Sickert, M Scheffer, R S Steneck, and J C Castilla “Navigating Transformations in Governance of Chilean Marine Coastal Resources.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 107 (2010): 16794–99 Gutierrez, N L., R Hilborn, and O Defeo “Leadership, Social Capital and Incentives Promote Successful Fisheries.” Nature 470 (2011): 386–89 Orensanz, J M., and A M Parma “Chile—Territorial Use Rights: Successful Experiment?” Samudra 55 (2010): 42–46 San Martín, G., A M Parma, and J M Orensanz “The Chilean Experience with Territorial Use Rights in Fisheries.” In Handbook of Marine Fisheries Conservation and Management, ed R Q Grafton, R Hilborn, D Squires, M Tait, and M Williams, 324–37 Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009 Townsend, R., and R Shotton “Case Studies in Fisheries Selfgovernance.” FAO fisheries technical paper 504 Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2008 12 Illegal Fishing Agnew, D., J Pearce, G Pramod, T Peatman, R Watson, J R Beddington, and T J Pitcher “Estimating the Worldwide Extent of Illegal Fishing.” (2009) PLoS ONE e4570 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004570 Knecht, G B Hooked: Pirates, Poaching and the Perfect Fish Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 2006 Lack, M Continuing CCAMLR’s Fight against IUU Fishing for Toothfish WWF Australia and TRAFFIC International, 2008 http://www wwf.or.jp/activities/upfiles/08-Continuing_CCAMLRs_Fight.pdf Further Reading 137 13 Trawling Impacts on Ecosystems Collie, J S., S J Hall, M J Kaiser, and I R Poiner “A Quantitative Analysis of Fishing Impacts on Shelf-sea Benthos.” Journal of Animal Ecology 69, no (2000): 785–98 Hiddink, J G., S Jennings, M J Kaiser, A M Queirós, D E Duplisea, and G J Piet “Cumulative Impacts of Seabed Trawl Disturbance on Benthic Biomass, Production, and Species Richness in Different Habitats.” Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 63, no (2006): 721–36 Jennings, S., and M J Kaiser “The Effects of Fishing on Marine Ecosystems.” Advances in Marine Biology 34 (1998): 201–352 National Research Council Effects of Trawling and Dredging on Seafloor Habitat Committee on Ecosystem Effects of Fishing: Phase 1–Effects of Bottom Trawling on Seafloor Habitats Ocean Studies Board, Division of Earth and Life Sciences, National Research Council Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2002 Pitcher, C R., C Y Burridge, T J Wassenberg, B J Hill, and I R Poiner “A Large Scale BACI Experiment to Test the Effects of Prawn Trawling on Seabed Biota in a Closed Area of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Australia.” Fisheries Research 99, no (2009): 168–83 Sainsbury, K J “Application of an Experimental Approach to Management of a Tropical Multispecies Fishery with Highly Uncertain Dynamics.” Ecology 193 (1991): 301–20 Sainsbury, K J., R A Campbell, R Lindholm, and A W Whitlaw “Experimental Management of an Australian Multispecies Fishery: Examining the Possibility of Trawl-induced Habitat Modification.” In Global Trends Fisheries Management, ed E K Pikitch, D D Huppert and M P Sissenwine, 107–12 Seattle: American Fisheries Society, 1997 Watling, L., and E A Norse “Disturbance of the Seabed by Mobile Fishing Gear: A Comparison to Forest Clearcutting.” Conservation Biology 12, no (1998): 1180–97 14 Marine Protected Areas Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Outlook Report 2009 http:// www.gbrmpa.gov.au/corp_site/about_us/great_barrier_reef_outlook _report 138 Further Reading Hilborn, R., K Stokes, J J Maguire, T Smith, L W Botsford, M Mangel, J Orensanz, A Parma, J Rice, J Bell, K L Cochrane, S Garcia, S J Hall, G P Kirkwood, K Sainsbury, G Stefansson, and C Walters “When Can Marine Reserves Improve Fisheries Management?” Ocean Coastal Management 47 (2004): 197–205 Jennings, S “Role of Marine Protected Areas in Environmental Management.” ICES Journal of Marine Science 66 (2009): 16–21 National Research Council Marine Protected Areas: Tools for Sustaining Ocean Ecosystems Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2001 Norse, E A., C B Grimes, S Ralston, R Hilborn, J C Castilla, S R Palumbi, D Fraser, and P Kareiva “Marine Reserves: The Best Option for Our Oceans?” Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (2003): 495–502 Wood, L J., L Fish, J Laughren, and D Pauly “Assessing Progress towards Global Marine Protection Targets: Shortfalls in Information and Action.” Oryx 42 (2008): 340–51 15 Ecosystem Impacts of Fishing Carpenter, S R and J F Kitchell, eds The Trophic Cascade in Lakes Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993 Carpenter, S R., J J Cole, J F Kitchell, and M L Pace “Trophic Cascades in Lakes: Lessons and Prospects.” In Trophic Cascades, ed J Terborgh and J Estes, 55–70 Washington, DC: Island Press, 2010 Pikitch, E K., C Santora, E A Babcock, A Bakun, R Bonfil, D O Conover, P Dayton, P Doukakis, D Fluharty, B Heneman, E D Houde , J Link, P A Livingston, M Mangel, M K McAllister, J Pope, and K J Sainsbury “Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management.” Science 305 (2004): 346–47 16 Status of Overfishing around the World Branch, T A., O P Jensen, D Ricard, Y Ye, and R Hilborn “Contrasting Global Trends in Marine Fishery Status Obtained from Catches and from Stock Assessments.” Conservation Biology 25 (2011): 777–86 Hilborn, R., T A Branch, B Ernst, A Magnusson, C V Minte-Vera, M D Scheuerell, and J L Valero “State of the World’s Fisheries.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 28 (2003): 359–99 Further Reading 139 Hutchings, J A., C Minto, D Ricard, J K Baum, and O P Jensen “Trends in Abundance of Marine Fishes.” Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 67 (2010): 1205–10 Jackson, J B C., M X Kirby, W H Berger, K A Bjorndal, L W Botsford, B J Bourque, R H Bradbury, R Cooke, J Erlandson, J A Estes, T P Hughes, S Kidwell, C B Lange, H S Lenihan, J M Pandolfi, C H Peterson, R S Steneck, M J Tegner, and R R Warner “Historical Overfishing and the Recent Collapse of Coastal Ecosystems.” Science 293 (2001): 629–38 Lotze, H K., H S Lenihan, B J Bourque, R H Bradbury, R G Cooke, M C Kay, S M Kidwell, M X Kirby, C H Peterson, and J B C Jackson “Depletion, Degradation, and Recovery Potential of Estuaries and Coastal Seas.” Science 312 (2006): 1806–09 Worm, B., R Hilborn, J K Baum, T A Branch, J S Collie, C Costello, M J Fogarty, E A Fulton, J A Hutchings, S Jennings, O P Jensen, H K Lotze, P M Mace, T R McClanahan, C Minto, S R Palumbi, A Parma, D Ricard, A A Rosenberg, R Watson, and D Zeller “Rebuilding Global Fisheries.” Science 325 (2009): 578–85 This page intentionally left blank INDEX abalone, 17, 89–90 abundance historical measurements of, 25, 51–52 in sustainable fishing, 4, 7–8, 111 techniques for measuring, xiii, 17–18, 73 See also stock assessments; surplus production acidification of oceans, 54, 105 acid rain, 22, 24 Africa recreational fishing, 83 sardine fisheries, 114 stock assessment data, xiv–xv, 123–24 Alaska catch and release fishing, 80 community development quotas, 43–44 fisheries management, xii–xiii, xiv, 123 indigenous fishermen, 16, 17, 80 ITQs in, 41 whale harvests, 16, 17 See also Eastern Bering Sea pollock; Pacific cod; Pacific halibut; salmon Alaskan bowhead whales, 16, 17 Alaskan crab, 44 Alaskan halibut See Pacific halibut Alaskan pollock See Eastern Bering Sea pollock albacore tuna, 65, 66 Aleutian Islands, 35 anadromous fishes, 22, 24 anchovies abundance fluctuations, 48, 52 ecosystem importance, 114–15 Peruvian, 55, 114 anoxic sediments, 51–52 Antarctic fisheries management, 93–94 illegal fishing, 91–93 whaling, 14, 15 See also Patagonian toothfish Antarctic krill See krill Arctic Oscillation, 49 Arctic whaling, 12–13 Argentina, 92 artisanal fisheries See small–scale and artisanal fisheries Asia market for Chilean loco, 84 recreational fishing, 83 stock assessment data, xiv–xv, 122, 123–24 Atlantic Ocean See North Atlantic Atlantic sea scallops, 98, 100, 102 auctions See territorial user rights to fish (TURFs) Australia ecosystem impact of trawling, 100–101 orange roughy catches, 75 See also Great Barrier Reef Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), 100 Azores high pressure system, 49 baleen whales, 115 Baltic Sea cod, xii Barents Sea cod, 11, 95 Basque fishermen cod fishing, whaling, 12 bass, striped See striped bass Becker, G S., 92, 94 142 Index benthic resources, 85, 86–87 Bering Sea, whaling, 13 big-eye tuna, 58, 65, 66, 67 billfish, 63, 79 birds See marine birds bluefin tuna abundance, 63, 64, 120 Atlantic fishery, 63, 64, 65, 67 exploitation and depletion, 28, 62–63, 64, 65–66, 67, 120–21 future of, 120–21 Indian Ocean fishery, 65–66, 67 Mediterranean fishery, 62, 63–64 blue whales, 14 Bohr, Niels, 54 bowhead whales, 13, 16, 17 Branch, Trevor, 102 British Columbia, geoduck, 74 by-catch of cod, 10, 57–58 discards, 10, 116 environmental impact of, 35–36, 42, 115–16 methods for reducing, 42, 57–58, 116, 117 of pollock, 35–36, 116 Cabot, John, 110 caletas See Chile California See West Coast, U.S Canada observer programs, 58 overfishing in, xii–xiii, xiv See also cod; Pacific halibut Carpenter, Steve, 113–14 carrying capacity, defined, Castilla, Juan Carlos, 86 catch as indication of abundance, xiii making recommendations for, 18–19, 38 measuring recreational, 79 catch and release fishing, 80 certified fisheries, 33–35 changing baseline, 25 Chesapeake Bay fishery, 21, 22 Chile fishing communities (caletas), 85–88, 89 orange roughy catches, 75 territorial user rights to fish, 45, 85–90 See also loco fishery; Patagonian toothfish Chinook salmon See salmon CITES See Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) clams, 17 Clean Water Act, 23 climate decadal oscillations, 48–49, 51–52 impact on habitat, 24, 105 impact on productivity, 47–54 impact on striped bass, 23, 24 ocean acidification, 54, 105 warming oceans, 53–54 cod by-catch of, 10, 57–58 Canadian collapse, 8–11 current abundance, 57, 58–59, 95 historical North Sea abundance, 56 rebuilding of, xii, 9, 57, 101 surplus production, 58–59 surviving stocks, 11 See also Barents Sea cod; Pacific cod collapsed fisheries defined, xiii, press stories, xi, xii See also cod; striped bass commercial fishing comparisons with recreational fishing, 26–27, 78–81 exploitation and depletions in, 20 management of, 79, 81–82 objectives, 79 public attention to, xii See also fisheries management; gear and technology; illegal fishing; overfishing; sustainable yields Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, 66 Index community-based management Chilean caletas, 85–88, 89 community development quotas, 43–44 Palau reef and lagoon tenure, 88 sector allocations, 44–45 success of, 5, 43, 88–89, 90 territorial user rights to fish, 45, 85–90 community development quotas (CDQs), 43–44 consumer action groups, 99, 126–27 Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), 93 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) on bluefin tuna, 62–63, 64, 68 on minke whales, 16–17 on research whaling, 19 coral reefs bleaching of, 113 as endangered, 120 impact of ocean acidification, 54 impacts of fishing, 99, 100, 102–3, 111, 112–13, 114 crabs impact of ocean acidification on, 54 TURF management of, 89–90 See also Alaskan crab Crosbie, John, deepwater fisheries, 69–77 expansions of, 72–73, 102 fishing technologies for, 73, 102 trawling in, 102 See also orange roughy Deepwater Horizon spill, 25, 106 Delaware River, 22, 23 discards, 10, 116 See also by-catch dolphins, 116 dynamite fishing, 112 Earle, Sylvia, 112 Eastern Bering Sea, species declines, 35 Eastern Bering Sea pollock 143 by-catch of, 35–36, 116 CDQs for, 44 management of, 28–30, 32, 44–45 MSC certification, 34–35 NGO concerns about, 28–29, 35–36 sector allocation system, 44–45 as single-species fishery, 55 economic overfishing curtailing, 42–43, 130 description of, 3, 41–42, 122 economic underfishing, 59–60 ecosystem-based management, 117–18 See also fisheries management ecosystem impacts of fishing, 110–21 abundance levels, 3–4, 110, 111 by-catches, 35–36, 115–16 damage to coral reefs, 99, 100, 102–3, 111, 112–13, 114 endangered species, 120–21 forage fish concerns, 114–15 overview, 110–12 predation balances, 110–11 trophic cascades, 113–14 vs livestock, 127–28 vs vegetarianism, 129 See also fisheries management; gear and technology; marine ecosystems; trawling ecosystem protection See marine protected areas (MPAs) el Niño, 48 endangered marine species, 120–21 Endangered Species Act, 17 Eskimos, 17 Europe cod fisheries, 10–11 consumer action groups, 99, 126–27 fisheries management, 10–11, 58, 122–23, 125–26 observer programs, 58 overfishing in, xiii, xiv recreational fishing, 80, 81, 83 whaling, 12–14 See also Baltic Sea; herring 144 Index exclusive economic zones (EEZs) establishment of, 42–43 success of, 42–43, 88–89, 94 experimental fishing, 76, 119 exploitation rates, worldwide, xi extinction See ecosystem impacts of fishing Exxon Valdez spill, 25 fin whales, 14 fisheries climate impacts on, 48–51 historical sedimentary records, 51–52 worldwide overfishing of, 42 See also deepwater fisheries; fisheries management; high seas fisheries; mixed fisheries; overfishing; recreational fishing; small-scale and artisanal fisheries; specific species fisheries management certifications for, 33–35, 127 closing of vulnerable areas, 106–8, 116, 118 complexities of, xv ecosystem approach to, 117–18 exclusive economic zones, 42–43, 88–89, 94 experimental fishing, 76–77, 119 food production goals, xvi, 112 harvest control rules, 30–31 influences on productivity, 49–50, 52–53 keys to successful, 126 managing new resources, 76–77 observer programs, 29, 32–33, 58, 94 open access, 37–38, 39 precautionary approach to, 76–77, 118–19 recovery from overfishing, 21–27 sector allocations, 44–45 single-species approach to, 55, 115, 117 subsidies, 5, 42, 126, 130 tragedy of the commons, 43, 90 See also community-based management; economic underfishing; individual fisherman’s quotas (IFQ); individual transferrable quotas (ITQ); overfishing; stock assessments fisherman, author’s use of term, xvi fish-finders, fishing See commercial fishing; ecosystem impacts of fishing; fisheries; fisheries management; gear and technology; recreational fishing fishing communities impact of IFQ and ITQ programs, 40–41 importance of fisheries to, xv, 40, 85 See also community-based management fishing pressure defined, 41 relationship to abundance, xiv, 4, 110, 111 worldwide reduction in, 123 Florida, 81 Food and Agriculture Organization (United Nations), xiv, 42, 119 forage fish ecosystem importance, 114–15 See also anchovies; herring; sardines Freedom of the Seas doctrine, 15 game fish See recreational fishing Garstang, Walter, 6, 56 Gause, Georgii, gear and technology for deepwater fishing, 73 fish-finders, gill nets, 6–7, 111 global positioning systems, 7, 73 historical innovations, 5, 6–7 impact on ecosystems, 111 purse seines, 58, 63, 64, 85 for reducing by-catch, 57–58, 116 Index whaling innovations, 13–14 See also ecosystem impacts of fishing; trawling geoduck, 45, 74 Georges Bank cod, 11 Germany, 80 ghost fishing, 38, 39 global positioning systems (GPS), 7, 73 gray whales, 15 Great Barrier Reef protection and management, 104–5, 106 threats to, 105 trawling in, 100–101 Greenland, whaling in, 13 Greenlaw, Linda, xii Greenpeace, 28, 35, 70, 126–27 groupers, 120 growth overfishing, 25, 26 Gulf of Maine cod, 11 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon spill, 25, 106 recreational fishing, 78–79, 80 red snapper, 80, 81, 101 sea scallops, 102 trawling in, 101, 102 tuna in, 63 Gutierrez, Nicolas, 43 habitat See marine ecosystems haddock, 55, 57, 101 halibut See Pacific halibut Hardin, Garret, 43 harvest control rule, 30–31 harvests See overfishing; sustainable yields Hawaii, 106 Heard Island, 91, 93 herring abundance levels, 47, 48 climate impacts on, 48, 49 ecosystem importance, 114–15 fishing methods for, 58 life cycle, 47–48 in single-species fisheries, 55 high seas fisheries 145 international cooperation in, 67–68 tuna fisheries, 62–67, 68 “hot spots,” 57 Hudson River, 22, 23 humpback whales, 14 Iceland cod fishery, 11 fisheries management, 11, 124–25, 130 whale hunting, 17 Icelandic low pressure system, 49 IFQs (individual fisherman’s quotas) See individual fisherman’s quotas (IFQs) illegal fishing combating, 93, 95–96 motives for, 20, 91, 92–93, 94 of Patagonian toothfish, 91–93, 95 Indian Ocean orange roughy catches, 75 tuna fisheries, 66, 67 individual fisherman’s quotas (IFQ) advantages of, 39–40, 43 combining with auctions, 45–46 description, 38 disadvantages, 40–41, 43 sector allocations as form of, 44–45 individual transferrable quotas (ITQ) advantages of, 39–40, 43 description, 38 disadvantages, 40–41, 43 individual vessel quota (IVQ), 44 Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, 66 International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), 64–65, 67 International Pacific Halibut Commission, 37, 66, 76 International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 120 International Whaling Commission (IWC), 15, 16, 19 146 Index Isaacs, John, 51, 52 ITQs (individual transferrable quotas) See individual transferrable quotas (ITQs) Japan and bluefin tuna, 63 sardine fisheries, 114 whaling by, 13, 17, 19 Johannes, Bob, 88, 89 Jones, Roy Harden, 69 king mackerel, 80 Kitchell, Jim, 113–14 krill, 35, 115, 128 Labrador, ling, 56 lobster, 89 Lockyer, Norman, loco fishery exploitation and collapse, 84–85, 86 management challenges, 85–88 Long Island Sound, 21 Magnusson-Stevens Fisheries Management and Conservation Act, 24 mammals See marine mammals management See fisheries management Management and Exploitation Areas for Benthic Resources (MEABRs), 86–87 marine birds as by-catch, 32 declines in, 35, 111, 120 protection measures for, 116 reliance on forage fish, 114–15 marine ecosystems acidification of oceans, 54, 105 impact of habitat on fish populations, 24–25 pollution of, 22, 24–25, 105 sustainable management, xvi See also climate; marine protected areas (MPAs) marine mammals as by-catch, 32, 57, 115–16 declines in, 111, 120 protection measures for, 116 reliance on forage fish, 114–15 See also whales marine protected areas (MPAs), 104–9 abundance levels in, 108 closing areas to fishing, 106–8, 116, 118 defined, 105 impact on overfishing, 108–9 marine reserves, 105, 106, 107 marine spatial planning management, 104 protection levels in, 105, 106, 108–9 resistance to, 109 set-aside decisions, 109 See also Great Barrier Reef Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), 33–35, 93–94, 95, 127 Martyr, Peter, 110 maximum sustainable yield (MSY), calculating, 5, Mediterranean Sea, bluefin tuna fishery, 62, 63, 64 menhaden, 114 Mid-Atlantic coast, 102 minke whales, 14, 16–17 Mitchell, John, 47 mixed fisheries area closures, 57, 60 balancing high- vs lowproductivity species, 59–60 gear modifications for, 57, 60–61 management challenges, 55–58, 59–61 observers and incentive programs, 58, 60, 61 reducing mixed nature of, 60–61 underfishing, 59–60 Moby Dick (Melville), 12 Monterey Bay Aquarium, 99, 126–27 MSC (Marine Stewardship Council), 33–35 Murawski, Steve, xii, 124 Index Namibia, 75 National Marine Fisheries Service, 29 New Bedford, MA, 97–98 New England rebuilding of haddock and cod, 101 sector allocation system, 45 trawling, 101, 102 whaling, 13, 14, 97–98 See also Atlantic sea scallops Newfoundland, 8–9 New Zealand deepwater trawling, 102, 107 fisheries management, xii–xiii, xiv, 123, 124, 125, 130 ITQs in, 41 observer programs, 33 See also orange roughy nitrogen isotopes, 52 North America consumer action groups, 99, 126–27 stability of fisheries, xii–xiii, xv stock assessment data, xiv, 122–23 See also Alaska; Canada; United States; West Coast, U.S North Atlantic cod fishing in, 11 oscillating ocean conditions, 49 whaling in, 15 North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), 49 North Pacific Fishery Management Council, 32 North Sea, trawl fisheries in, 55–56, 101 North Sea cod, xii, 55–56 North Sea herring See herring Norway cod fishery, 11 fisheries management by, 11, 124, 125, 130 whaling, 14, 16–17 Norwegian spring spawning herring, 50–51 See also herring 147 observer programs, 29, 32–33, 58, 94 Oceana, 35 ocean acidification, 54, 105 ocean primary productivity, 53 ocean zoning, 104 open access fisheries, 37–38, 39 orange roughy abundance estimates, 69, 75, 120 biology and life cycle, 70, 73–74, 75–76 economic zone closings, 75–76, 121 exploitation and depletion, 69–71, 72, 75, 120–21 fishing methods, 71, 74 future sustainability, 75–76, 120–21 sustainable yield estimates, 71, 73–75 Ostrom, Elinor, 43, 90 overfishing definition, 3–4 ecosystem impacts of, 3–4, 97, 110, 111, 122 growth, 25, 26 historical, 6–7, 12–15 NGO protests, 28, 35, 70, 99, 126–27 press and scholarly reports on, xi–xvi, 122–26, 129–30 recovery from, 21–24 role of recreational fishing in, 83 steps toward curtailment, 129–30 worldwide status of, xiii–xv, 122–26 See also economic overfishing; illegal fishing; yield overfishing oysters, 54 Pacific cod, CDQs for, 44 Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO), 48–49, 52 Pacific halibut CDQs for, 44 fishing methods, 38 individual fisherman’s quotas, 38–41, 130 148 Index Pacific halibut (continued ) open access management, 37–38, 39 See also International Pacific Halibut Commission Pacific Ocean decadal oscillations, 48–49, 51–52 whales and whaling in, 15–16, 19 Palau, 88 Patagonian toothfish illegal taking of, 91–93 management of, 93–94, 95 MSC certification, 35, 93–94, 95 Pauly, Daniel, xii, 25 Peru anchoveta fishery, 55 loco fishery, 84 Pitcher, Roland, 100–101 plaice, 55 pollock See Eastern Bering Sea pollock pollution impact on fisheries, 22, 24–25 impact on Great Barrier Reef, 105 populations historical depletions of, 20, 25 impact of climate on, 47–51 impact of habitat on, 24–25 See also abundance; stock assessments; surveys Poulsen, René Taudal, 56 prawns, 100–101, 116 precautionary approach to fisheries management, 118–19 See also fisheries management production See surplus production purse seines, 58, 63, 64, 85 rainbow trout, 83 “Rapid Worldwide Depletion of Predatory Fish Communities,” 65 rays, 59 recovery of fisheries See fisheries management recreational fishing catch and release, 80 comparisons with commercial fishing, 26–27, 78–81 exotic species introductions, 82–83 freshwater vs saltwater, 82–83 management challenges, 79–80, 81–83 measuring catch, 79, 81–82 objectives, 79 political influence of, 80–81, 82 role in overfishing, 83 in U.S and Europe, 81, 83 See also striped bass recruitment defined, 25, 49 impact of climate vs overfishing on, 49–50 recruitment overfishing, 25–26, 49–50 red drum, 80 red snapper, 80, 81, 101 Revised Management Procedure, 16, 19 right whales, 12, 13, 14 Sainsbury, Keith, 100 saithe, 55 salmon abundance fluctuations, 49, 52 as by-catch, 35, 36 habitat loss, 24 sampling See surveys sardines abundance fluctuations, 48, 52 ecosystem importance, 114–15 1950s collapse, 52 scallops counting methods, 17 See also Atlantic sea scallops sea turtles, 57, 116, 120 sea urchins, 85, 112, 113 sector allocations, 44–45 sei whales, 14 sequential depletion, 14 shad, 24 sharks, 59, 116, 120 sheepshead, 80 shellfish aquaculture leases, 89 Index Shepherd, John, 17 shrimp, 116 skipjack tuna, 58, 65, 66, 67 small-scale and artisanal fisheries community management of, 45, 85–90, 130 Palau reef and lagoon tenure, 88 See also loco fishery Smith, John, 21, 25 Soutar, Andrew, 51, 52 South America recreational fishing, 83 stock assessment data, xiv–xv Southern Ocean Japanese research, 19 whaling in, 14, 19 South Georgia Island, 35, 93, 95 spawning stock biomass, 48 sperm whales, 13, 14 sport fishing See recreational fishing spotted sea trout, 80 stock assessments components of, xiii, 31–32 in 2009 report on worldwide abundance, xiii–xv, 122–24 usefulness in fisheries management, xiii, 18–19, 31–32 stocks, defined, 10 striped bass climate impacts, 23, 24 collapse of, 21–23 as game fish, 26–27 life cycle, 22 management, 23 mycobacteriosis, 24 recovery, 23–24 subsidies, in fisheries management, 5, 42, 126, 130 surplus production defined, 18, 58 impact on harvests, 58–59 surveys use in fisheries management, xiii, 17, 82 See also stock assessments sustainable fishing abundance levels in, 4, 7–8, 111 149 ecosystem impact of, 110–11, 127–28 food production from, 111, 112, 127–28 success stories, 37–38, 124–26 sustainable yields definition, 4–5, 15 estimating, 18–19, 72 harvest control rule, 30–31 maximum, 5, for slow-growing fish, 74–75 of whales, 15–17 Switzerland, catch and release in, 80 swordfish, xii, 67 technology See gear and technology territorial user rights to fish (TURFs), 45, 85–90 Thompson, W F., 76 total allowable catch (TAC), 38 “tragedy of the commons,” 43, 90 trawling alternatives to, 99–100, 103 by-catch from, 57, 116 in deepwater fisheries, 72–73, 102 ecosystem impacts, 56–57, 97, 98–99, 100–102, 112 ecosystem recovery from, 102–3 gear for, 57, 98–99 historical, North Sea, 55–58 orange roughy, 71, 74 profitability, 99–100 restrictions on, 106–7, 117 trophic cascades, 113–14 tuna albacore, 65, 66 big-eye, 58, 65, 66 by-catch of, 58, 116 international management, 62–68 purse seines, 58, 63–64, 116 skipjack, 58, 65, 66, 67 yellowfin, 58, 65, 66 See also bluefin tuna turtles, 57, 116 150 Index underfishing, 59–60 Unilever, 33 United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization, xiv, 42, 119 United States Clean Water Act, 23 cod fishery, 11 deepwater trawling, 102, 107 Endangered Species Act, 17 historical whaling, 13, 97–98 Magnusson-Stevens Fisheries Management and Conservation Act, 24 marine reserves, 109 overfishing in, xii, xiii, 11, 124, 125 recreational fishing, 26–27, 78–81, 83 whaling by indigenous groups, 17 See also Alaska; West Coast, U.S health of fisheries, xii–xiii, xiv observer programs, 58 sardine fisheries, 114, 115 See also Alaska whales estimating abundance, 18 See also whaling; specific species whaling history of, 12–15, 98 international management, 14–15, 16 Japanese “research,” 19 moratorium on, 15, 16, 19 sustainable harvests, 15–17 See also specific countries Words of the Lagoon, The (Johannes), 88 World Bank, 42 World Wildlife Fund, xii, 33, 70 Worm, Boris, xiii, xiv, 129 vegetarianism, 129 yellowfin tuna, 58, 65, 66, 67 yield overfishing curtailing, 129–30 described, 3, 25–26, 41 UN report on, 122 Washington (state), geoduck, 45, 74 West Coast, U.S gray whales, 15 .. .OVERFISHING WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW This page intentionally left blank OVERFISHING WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW RAY HILBORN, WITH ULRIKE HILBORN 1 Oxford... that no slight is intended OVERFISHING WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW This page intentionally left blank OVERFISHING What is overfishing? Overfishing is harvesting a fish stock so hard that much of... fishing From what we now know there is nothing managers could have done to stop this falling off in productivity of the cod, but what they failed to is cut back the catches in time to prevent all